The sniper's rifle
by 8Dwriter-in-training8D
Summary: A man, who had tracked down every kind of animal, seeks for more. He follows Kagome into the feudal era and in his search for demon prey, he spots Sesshomaru and he thinks that the great dog demon had a very pretty pelt "a girl's with him? Interesting."
1. Chapter 1: Nightmare hunts

**The Sniper's rifle.**

**Chapter 1: Nightmare hunts**

A man sat down on a large desk, his rough fingers tapping noisily on the scathed wood as his comrade placed the pelt of a Japanese Macaque in the suitcase next to the other few rare species he had hunted down illegally at the moment. When the other younger, brown haired male finished fixing up the pelts the older man had hunted down in Japan, he smiled and turned to his rather frustrated-looking leader, "Well done sir Aku! You are finally done collecting every single animal skin on the planet! Though it is funny how you decided to leave your home country for last." The young man said scratching his head but jumped in startle and shock when the older man abruptly got up and slammed his fists on the desk, shoving everything that was on the table on the floor.

"If we are finished then why am I not satisfied Akihiko?" the grey haired man yelled, walking towards his quivering companion, grabbing the collar of his shirt, "I-I d-don't know Sir!"

The man named Aku growled, shoving his minion away from him and looked at the wall of the large room in which pictures of every animal species you can imagine were glued on the wall, "I have traveled everywhere! Australia, America, Europe, Africa, the Oceans, in every speck of them to find rare and non rare animals! Everywhere you can think of! I've hunted down every single animal from the animal kingdom! Lions, Tigers, white rhinos, the wild Horses, deer, polar bears, red wolves, snakes, fish and even whales! I have sold many pelts and I am as wealthy as I can be! So why do I thirst for more?"

"B-but sir! There are no animal species left for you to hunt! You have already tracked them all down and the pelts are waiting for you on the walls of your mansion just on the outskirts of Tokyo!" Akihiko said, rubbing his sore neck.

Aku looked at his hand, so much animal blood had saturated his hands, "Yes… hunting anything now would be just a walk in the park… I need a challenge…" he muttered, flexing his fingers, "All the stupid predators in this world are just prey to me now… no more a challenge than swapping a fly..." Aku mumbled, "You know what I would really enjoy hunting down Akihiko?" the buff man asked, rubbing his scratchy chin where his short beard was starting to grow, his other hand fiddling with his gun "What is that sir?" the man asked, shifting on his feet nervously.

There was only one type of species he hadn't tried to hunt down... and Akihiko's mind raced in worry and fear at the thought….

Humans.

"Akihiko!" The gruff man named Aku yelled; his slightly wrinkled brows furrowing at the younger thirty year old male, his lips curled in a frown as Akihiko flinched "Don't be stupid! I know what you're thinking! I'd never hunt down my own kind! I could kill, no doubt if they offend me; but I could never skin a human being! That's just dishonorable!" Aku scowled, crossing his arms.

The younger man was relieved to hear that and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"However there is one species I would definitely enjoy tracking that would be quite the challenge for me" Aku smirked, uncrossing his arms and fiddled with his sniper gun again, "But… what is that you haven't hung on your wall yet sir?" the brown haired, brown eyed man asked and Aku smiled, making Akihiko tense.

"Demons."

…

It was morning; the sun was shining, the birds were singing and everything was peaceful. Kagome Higarashi walked through the streets of Tokyo with grocery bags in hand, her pitch black hair and green skirt blowing slightly in the breeze as her black polished shoes clicked on the pavement "Ah, I hope my friends love the new ingredients I'll add to the ramen! The people in the feudal era don't get many goods like we do today! I sure hope that spoiled half-demon Inuyasha won't complain again…" She said to herself and skipped happily down the sidewalk, oblivious to the weird stares she was recieving.

Soon she reached her house where her mother waited for her, "Hello dear! You got all the ingredients?" she asked and Kagome nodded, placing the ingredients on the table.

"Hey Kagome!" A male voice was heard as she turned her head to see someone slid open the door; a male that looked about her age, clad in red with long white hair and dog ears on his head, walked through the door barefoot.

The girl smiled, "Inuyasha!" she smiled, greeting him as her little brother ran through the door, "Hey Mom! Hey Kagome! Hey Inuyasha! How are you doing?" Sota the young boy grinned, "I'm cooking for my friends over at the feudal era and Inuyasha gets to be the taste tester!" Kagome replied; for some reason the white haired male seemed to frown, "Why do I have to be the one who gets poisoned first?"

"SIT!"

*Wham!*

Kagome fumed at the half-demon that lay face first on the floor, "Be grateful I'm making something for you, you idiot!" she yelled and stomped her foot and walked off mumbling stuff like: "Calling my food poison! I'll kill him one day!"

…

"Demons? But sir, those things don't exist!" Akihiko exclaimed, "Not in this world they don't, but in another, my grandmother had told me stories about the feudal era when I was a child, she said that there were very few ways to go there; they exist and one of them lays right here, in Japan." Aku lit a cigarette and puffed out a cloud of smoke, chuckling at his minion's stare, "You must think I'm crazy" he stated and inhaled the cigarette again, "It doesn't matter, I will start my search tomorrow." He said.

"It's not that sir; it's just that, I just remembered I heard a girl say something weird today…" he said, deep in thought; Aku lifted a brow "Oh? And how should this concern me?" he asked, not impressed that his underling was talking to him about such nonsense.

"It's just that… as I was on my way to meet you here in this abandoned warehouse, a teenage girl walked out of a grocery store down the street, she was mumbling to herself…" Akihiko said, deep in thought to remember what exactly she had said.

Aku was not amused, another's insanity is none of his business, he had his own to deal with; much less a girl he hadn't even seen before.

"She was mumbling about some ingredients to add to the ramen for her friends…" he continued and the older man was losing his patience, "Again, why should this have my attention?" the man growled, almost tempted to shoot Akihiko.

But the next sentence that came out of his mouth made Aku pause.

"She was talking about people in the feudal era and she said something about a half-demon called… uh… Inuyasha… I think." He said, wondering if he got the name right.

Aku leaned forward in his seat, his curiosity now peaked at the words 'feudal era' and 'half-demon.'

"Inuyasha huh? You have my attention; where was this girl headed? What did she look like?" he asked.

…

It was a sunny day; four figures had stopped to rest near a clearing where many flowers bloomed, a little girl ran around, singing and dancing around in the field; picking flowers for her master.

"La-la-la-la!" she grinned and picked only was she thought were the most beautiful flowers, she arranged the bouquet in her hands by tying a thin vine around the flower stems to keep them together and grinned a toothy smile, proud of her work.

"Rin! Don't get too far! Lord Sesshomaru has no time to search for you if you get lost! Get back here this instant!" a voice yelled; she turned to see a green, yellow eyed demon toad running towards her, "But master Jaken, I didn't go far!" she said as the small demon toad grumbled and demanded for her to return close to the group, pulling on her arm.

Oh well, at least she got to pick her bouquet of flowers for her Lord.

She spotted a white haired man, sitting down, leaning against a tree, a purple crescent moon in the middle of his forehead with two stripes on either side of his cheeks; his eyes the most beautiful gold color and his pale face always emotionless.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru!" she chirped, running towards him; his glance was the only sign of his acknowledgement towards the girl, his expression never wavering even a bit, but Rin had gotten used to it.

His face never betrayed any emotions, which made it difficult for her to understand him most of the time, but she didn't mind, he listened to her even if he never usually replied to whatever she ever said; she knew that he enjoyed her company; of course he never told her such a thing but somehow she just knew.

He had saved her from death and she was grateful for it, she had been traveling with him, Jaken and Ah-Uh for almost a year and she loved it.

"Here! I made you a bouquet! I hope you like it Milord! I made sure to pick the prettiest of flowers for you!" she grinned ear to ear, giving him a toothy smile and held out the flowers from behind her back, showing them to him like they were the best flowers in the world.

Her slightly messy ebony black hair was blowing around her face slightly in the small breeze along with her red and yellow checkered, worn dress; a tooth missing from its row, her thin frame looking as if it will be blown away by the wind.

Sesshomaru did not smile, yet he did not frown, his face impassive as always, he did not make a move to take the flowers from her grasp or thanked her; he never did, he merely stole a glance at them and then looked back at the girl, yet her smile did not falter one bit, instead she simply placed them down on the soft grass next to his lap "I hope you enjoy them Lord Sesshomaru!" she smiled and turned to run back towards the field to play with the butterflies.

Jaken got up from his seated position next to Ah-Uh, the two headed dragon who was sleeping, and walked over to his Lord, picking up the bouquet of flowers and grimaced as the white haired demon Lord got up from his sitting position.

"Ha! What does she think the great and powerful Lord Sesshomaru would do with a bunch of flowers? They are completely useless to him! What insolence!" the green demon toad scoffed and threw the flowers on the ground, stomping on them as the dog demon started walking away, across the flowery fields towards their next destination, "Don't worry milord, I'll tell her to stop bringing them to you-"

Jaken had no time to finish his sentence before a rock the size of his fist came in contact with his head, causing him to fall to the ground, when he tried to get up again; two more came crashing on his head again.

"L-Lord S-Sesshomaru… w-what was that for?" the green imp whimpered, rubbing the three bumps that were forming on his forehead. He knew that whenever that happened, he either said or did something that his Lord didn't like; if Sesshomaru hit him with three rocks, then that means he both said and did something very wrong.

"For ruining Rin's flowers, now go and bring her before I kill you; we're leaving." The demon lord didn't even stop to glance behind him as he spoke.

**Raven: I hope you liked it! As I always say, the more reviews I get, the faster I write. If you like this story and wish for me to continue, leave a review and I shall see that you get your reward.**


	2. Chapter 2: the shrine

**The Sniper's rifle.**

**Chapter 2: The shrine**

Aku sat on top of a building, quietly, as he observed his prey closely from across the street… it was the girl Akihiko had described; he had followed her quietly and reached her house where three people that he had guessed were her mother, brother and grandfather waited for her. He lit a cigarette and sucked in a breath and blew out a puff of smoke, waiting patiently to see if there were any strange happenings or if this assumed 'half-demon' called 'Inuyasha' appeared.

'_If Akihiko's wrong then I will kill him for wasting my time!'_ The middle aged man thought sourly, reaching in his pouch and took out his binoculars; he had brought a few things, but the only weapons he actually brought with him was a small pistol and a knife for self defense if anything occurred; his outfit consisted of black semi-baggy pants and a black t-shirt, with army boots and a belt that held many pouches, medical supplies and weapons along with fingerless leather gloves.

He had been standing on the roof for half an hour, patiently, because a predator should always be patient.

Soon enough, the girl stepped out of her house with a rather odd looking young man clad in red, "Thanks for helping me mom" Aku heard the young girl say to her mother, "You're welcome dear, now hurry and go to your friends before the food gets cold" she smiled and waved.

Aku's curiosity peaked when the family didn't walk towards the street like he expected; instead, they were walking towards something that looked like a shrine…

Didn't the girl say that she was visiting her friends? Were they in the shrine or something? Impossible, what on earth would they be doing in a small space like that?

The hunter grew suspicious and decided to get a closer look; he jumped off of the low roof and quickly but quietly like a soldier, hid behind the bushes close to the shrine; stealth is required if your hunting an animal, and in this case, spying.

His eyes narrowed when the white haired male slid open the door of the small wooden shrine to reveal… nothing. Nobody was there, only a box-like thing in the middle… What was this all about?

"Come on Kagome!" he grunted, "Jeez Inuyasha, relax! I'm coming!" the black haired girl grumbled, "yeah whatever… I can't wait to get out of here… not that I don't appreciate your family's hospitality but all this invisible smoke is blocking my senses, I can't smell anything even a few meters away!" the white haired male replied and took of his blue cap, making the hunter's eyes widen in shock, but then narrow in glee _'hm… so that's the so called half-demon…'_ he thought, seeing two white dog-ears on Inuyasha's head.

"The 'smoke' is called carbon dioxide Inuyasha and I'll see you later mom, Sota and grandfather! I'll tell you what they'll think of the food!" the girl named Kagome smiled at her family, much to Aku's puzzlement.

"See you Kagome!" her grandfather chirped and closed the door after the two teens jumped in the wooden crate-looking-thing, creating many questions in Aku's mind.

But one thing's for sure, he had to see what was in that thing…

After the three remaining family members entered their home and closed the door, Aku quietly proceeded towards the shrine; he placed his ear on the door to try and hear if something was going on inside but only silence met his ears… confused and suspicious, he quietly opened the sliding door just enough for him to enter and he took out his flashlight to see what was going on.

Looking around, the shrine was empty…

'_Strange…'_ he thought, and walked towards the wooden box to find that it was indeed a Well; '_this is where the two entered…'_ but when he lit his flashlight down into the well, he only saw the dirt bottom.

'_Must be a trap door around here or something, demons or no demons, this is strange, I suspect that this family holds a secret and I intend to find out what it is'_ so he jumped down; he had jumped down many jagged cliffs without hurting himself, of course he wasn't a ninja to jump off the Grand canyon for example, that's impossible, but he can land without problem on the ground from thirty feet maximum, he had trained himself to do so, which explains his muscular frame. He liked it the old fashion way, it makes the hunt more exciting, not any fancy high tech stuff to carry him around, he preferred using his hands and legs that were given to him instead of ropes or other things like that.

This Well didn't seem more than fifteen feet off the ground.

Once he landed on the bottom, he looked around for any switches or trap doors… but he found nothing… it was just a simple old well…

'_How is this possible? I didn't see or hear them leave! What trickery is this?'_ Aku growled as he climbed out of the well, _'I will see to this Kagome girl, perhaps this well is a sort of portal; hmm… I will wait for her return but for the meantime, I will install one of my small cameras to face the well, that way I can keep a close eye on it from my lab.'_

The man took out the contraptions and installed the camera, making sure it was hidden from any other eyes.

Once he finished, he exited the family shrine and walked off into the night, nobody knowing he was even there.

…

Sesshomaru walked along the path they were taking, Jaken following his lord while pulling Ah-Un along by the reins. Rin was skipping alongside the dog demon, happily singing and looking around curiously as she always did; they have been traveling almost all day and it was now sundown, the rays barely making it over the horizon.

"La-la…la…laaaaaa…" Rin's singing was less lively now, dragging out a long yawn; making Sesshomaru glance at the young girl as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

The white haired youkai stopped walking, "Jaken" he said, earning the imp's attention immediately, "Yes milord?" the green toad asked, "Settle Ah-Un down, we rest here for tonight."

"Yes milord!"

Camp was now set and the four were sitting down around the fire; Jaken was now snoring next to the sleeping two headed dragon, the human girl sat with her knees close to her chest, poking the fire with a stick, resting her head on her knees.

"Rin"

Her lord's voice made her turn her head towards the youkai who was -a few feet away- looking at her, "Go to sleep, you need rest" he stated, girl nodded and lay down next to him, "goodnight lord Sesshomaru" she smiled and dozed off.

The demon lord didn't need much sleep as the girl did, neither did Jaken or Ah-Un; they were demons, they could last without sleep for a long time but for Rin to sleep was very necessary for her body, she could not travel with them if she was forced to stay awake in order to not get left behind.

If danger were near, she wouldn't be able to at least run from it if she were tired; he couldn't risk her death for a third time; the Tenseiga could not revive her again and he was very lucky last time because of his mother, she said that she would not help her again either.

So her life is now always on the line… and fearing for her death constantly after his little journey to the underworld was not pleasant for Sesshomaru. He didn't like it one bit… yet he couldn't help it, the little girl next to him was something he wanted to journey with, even if she was not much use to him.

Sesshomaru glanced down when he felt a tug on his attire and looked to see Rin curled up next to him, nuzzling the soft white fur he had attached to his clothes that often rested over his right shoulder, a soft sigh escaping her lips.

He didn't make a move to remove her; he simply wasn't in the mood for her complaining.

…

Aku reached his lab at the basement of his mansion, seeing his long term companion waiting for him. Just because he was a hunter, didn't mean he didn't study animal anatomy, that way it made him a more efficient killer, besides, he liked scientific things.

"It seems that you were right Akihiko, there is something strange about that girl and her family; it seems that there is a portal in her shrine" he said, stroking his short beard, the brown haired man looked puzzled, "Portal? How do you know for sure?"

Aku snapped his gaze towards Akihiko, making him flinch slightly, "The girl along with the half-demon jumped in a well, when I went to see, they were nowhere in sight, I tried to look for trap doors but I found none" he said, "Maybe you didn't look well enough? Perhaps you overlooked-" Akihiko didn't finish because he immediately regretted it when his back suddenly met the wall, his throat clenched by a hand, he gasped for air, not daring to try and get out of Aku's chokehold, "I am not a man who makes mistakes, Akihiko, I don't '_overlook'_ things, I **never** do, you should understand that, you've been working under my wing for 5 years."

Akihiko trembled under Aku's glare, obviously afraid of the man, "I-I apologize sir! Of course y-you never overlook things!" he stuttered, "hm… good" Aku smirked and let him go, turning over to the computer where he had a clear view of the shrine, "We wait for now, patience is always the key."

**Raven: Review please and I'll mention more of Inuyasha and the gang, along with Sesshomaru and the others; there might be a few errors here and there but this is a real quick chapter and I really hope you enjoyed it.**


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